Recipe: Indonesian Beef Rendang

This is the best slow cooker beef rendang recipe out there. Spicy, aromatic and fresh despite its long cooking time. Make sure you get your hands on a decent piece of beef and invite all the family round to sample this fragrant, thick, curry.
If you haven't tried it before, it's a great gateway into Indonesian cooking and a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

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Ingredients

Paste

2 red onion

1 chunk of root ginger

4 cloves of garlic

2 red chillies

2 sticks of lemongrass

6 kaffir lime leaves

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp palm sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground turmeric

Curry

1 shot of groundnut oil

1 kg beef shin, cubed

400 ml full fat coconut milk

100 g desiccated coconut

1 cinnamon stick

1 tbsp salt

Serving

1 tbsp tamarind paste

1 bunch of fresh coriander

2 spring onions (optional garnish)

400 g Thai Fragrant Rice

Step 1

Sear The Beef

Cut the beef into bite-sized pieces and flash fry in batches in a clean pan with the groundnut oil to get a bit of golden colour.
Transfer the beef to a slow cooker once it’s coloured to make space to brown off more.

Step 2

Blitz The Curry Paste

Peel and roughly chop the onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass and chillies.
Throw them all into the food processor with the kaffir lime leaves, spices and palm sugar.
Blitz to a paste and start to fry in the beef pan with a little more groundnut oil for 2-3 minutes.

Step 3

Slow Cook

Scrape the paste into the slow-cooker and add the coconut milk, desiccated coconut, cinnamon stick, salt and 100ml of water.
Cook on a low heat for 6 hours until the beef is really tender.

Step 4

Serve

Finish the curry with tamarind and fresh coriander then serve with steamed rice and some freshly finely sliced spring onion and red chilli.
Serves 4